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Bicycle Counts

Portland has been successful in making bicycle ridership a part of daily life in Portland. That statement is taken directly from Portland’s Comprehensive Plan . It is a core element of our bicycle policies. Over the past 14+ years we have worked hard to make bicycling more convenient, comfortable, and accessible to more people throughout Portland and we have been successful.

How do we measure success? Our new Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030 calls for more than a quarter of all trips to be made by bicycling by 2030.

While we don’t have the ability to accurately measure bicycle mode share* for all trips, we do have a number of indicators showing that bicycle use is increasing as conditions improve for biking. Among the more important indicators are the regular bicycle counts we’ve conducted at locations throughout the city. The most significant locations are at the city’s four main bicycle-friendly bridges: the Broadway, Steel, Burnside & Hawthorne. These are the bridges with bicycle facilities on them, and generally leading to them. Bicycle use on these four bridges has grown 322% since 1991, while automotive trips have not increased at all